Alteo building solar park with battery storage for MOL Group

MOL’s 37.4 MW solar power plant with a battery energy storage system (BESS) of 40 MWh will contribute to the energy independence of its oil and gas complex in southern Hungary. Alteo is the contractor building the facility. The battery segment has received grants totaling EUR 20.5 million.

MOL Group marked the start of construction of a solar park and BESS at its Algyő site in Csongrád-Csanád county. The Hungarian company pointed out that smart green transition, reducing external energy consumption, is a key element of its Shape Tomorrow strategy.

The investment will significantly contribute to the energy independence of the oil and gas complex in southern Hungary, improve the flexibility of electricity supply and lower the site’s CO2 emissions by 13,000 tons per year, according to the announcement.

MOL Group hired Alteo, in which it holds minority stake

The photovoltaic plant project is for 37.4 MW and the battery energy storage system would have 40 MWh in capacity. Alteo, listed at the Budapest Stock Exchange, is the contractor for the construction of the facility. MOL Group, which holds a minority stake, controls a total of 73.8% of its shares together with two private equity funds.

The company’s full name is Alteo Energy Services. As an aggregator, it owns or operates gas power plants and renewables, combined with energy storage, while also providing software as a service (SaaS).

Storage is essential for smart energy transition

MOL has won support of EUR 20.5 million in total for the energy storage project in Algyő. A EUR 6.7 million grant came via the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and Hungary’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), while the government secured the remainder.

“Our strategic goal is a smart energy transition, for which energy storage is essential, as it ensures the integration and flexible use of sustainable energy systems. Algyő is a symbolic location for us – it is here that six decades of industrial experience meet the technology of the future,” said Managing Director of MOL Exploration and Production Hungary Péter Archibald Schubert.

Solar power capacity in Hungary has topped 8 GW

The solar power plant’s output is equivalent to the annual consumption of 22,500 households in the county, while the BESS can flexibly cover 7,300 households, he added.

MOL Group operates seven solar parks in Hungary and two in Croatia, of 111 MW altogether. Its goal is to reach 200 MW in renewable energy capacity by the end of next year.

Alteo will operate MOL’s other battery energy storage system, in Tiszaújváros

Of note, the company broke ground in March for a 40 MWh battery system at the MOL Petrochemicals site in Tiszaújváros, in northeastern Hungary. It selected Alteo as its operator. The investment is worth EUR 16.3 million, of which EUR 6.7 million is a grant from NRRP.

As for the PV and battery investment in Algyő, the local authority made the 47-hectare site available to the integrated hydrocarbons producer, Hungarian media reported.

At the ceremony, Deputy State Secretary for Energy Transition at the Ministry of Energy Viktor Horváth said that the country’s solar power capacity has surpassed 8 GW. It is ninth in the world in PV capacity per capita.

In other storage news, MET Group inaugurated the largest BESS in Hungary last week at its gas power plant near Budapest.